Twitter Craze

Although Twitter is probably the major social media form that I use the least, I seem to have a lot to say about it. This is probably because it is the most widely talked about social media outlet, in terms of tweets by celebrities, public figures, major companies, etc. Personally, I do have a twitter, but I mainly use it to follow other people and things. I have probably had my twitter for 3 months now and I have only posted 2 tweets. I find twitter a little strange in this regard. Why would I want to share what I am doing or thinking about every moment of the day. For celebs, companies tweeting about updates, sales and discounts, I can kind of understand the purpose of tweeting a little more because people would definitely be more interested, but for me I find it useless. But I also have the same opinion of Facebook status updates, so I guess I may just be against the whole idea of broadcasting my every day life.

I have been finding that Twitter can have positive and negative effects on our society, depending on the way that it is used. I don't know if anyone recalls a few weeks ago when fashion designer and philanthropist, Kenneth Cole, tweeted about his new collection in relation to the events occurring in Egypt. People responded very poorly to his tweet and he had to publicly apologize for what he said, via twitter, facebook, etc. I am actually an intern at Kenneth Cole in the marketing and creative services department. That day in the office was crazy. As soon as the twitter responses started coming in and his tweet started making news, my department called a bunch of emergency meetings all aimed at trying to fix the problem and redeeming Kenneth's image as quickly as possible. Kenneth ended up putting up a facebook post apologizing, to which he posted links to on twitter. Before I sat down to write this post, I went on to twitter to try to find the link to his apology (since the original post was deleted). I, instead, found something much more interesting. I typed in Kenneth Cole in the search box and what came up were other posts in which Kenneth Cole had been mentioned. It said that the company CEO had resigned this morning. I then went to the actual Kenneth Cole twitter and there had been no mention of this. I think that this is another potential downfall of twitter. Even if people, companies are simply mentioned in a post, they appear when searched, even if it is information they did not want publicly revealed yet. I texted a couple of my friends who are in the office today and they said that they did not even know about it until I asked them about it. This shows the speed at which social media works and the way that it is surpassing human communication.

Twitter has also been in the news regarding the broadcast of the Academy Awards last night. An article on CNN.com discusses how instead of watching the boring broadcast, people could have instead just monitored twitter posts by viewers and been much more entertained. The article is quite humorous. Click here to read the article. An interesting thought that was brought up was that someone said that the producers of the show should monitor the tweets during the live broadcast, and when they see that the feedback is negative, they should have a backup plan ready to go. I do not see how this is practical as of yet, just because that would be a lot of money to spend prematurely on a backup plan. However, I do imagine something like this being feasible in the near future.

As I stated earlier, I am not a very exciting tweeter, but anyone is free to follow me anyway.

Celebrity Status

While Facebook is a great outlet for communication I believe there is much to be wary of. Psychologically, it must be taken into account the ridiculous amount of time that people spend during each day using this website. 

There are many practical reasons for this type of communication but when it comes to status updates and some pictures, we may have taken it too far. 

I believe the reason people use these sites so much is because it makes them feel important. It builds up their self esteem. 

On the computer you can be whoever you want to be.

 It allows people to express themselves in ways they would not feel comfortable doing outside of cyberspace. They are able to construct every aspect of their communication. They chose timing, they can manipulate pictures visually. I believe that it gives people a false sense of importance. 

Everyone thinks they are a celebrity.you are not Lindsay Lohan, or Paris Hilton, and pictures of you drunk and passed out WILL affect your future.... So stay humble and use Facebook, but don't abuse it. 

YouTube Success Story: Justin Bieber

I think it's pretty safe to say that most of us have heard of teen pop sensation Justin Bieber. His face and trademark hair are everywhere, from countless magazine covers to television programs, and his catchy (often annoying) tunes are heard on every popular radio station throughout the country. He is possibly one of the most well-known people in the U.S. (and the world for that matter) right now. But if we go back to 2008, we all would be saying Justin who? How did Justin Bieber skyrocket to superstar fame in just three short years? The answer: YouTube. Three years ago, Justin was performing at a local theater in his native Canada and posting amateur videos of him singing on YouTube. One day, talent manager, Scooter Braun happened to stumble across one of Justin's videos, and the rest is history. Fastforward one year and Justin was releasing his first debut album which preceded to shoot him to instant success on the Billboard charts.

It is truly fascinating to see how a website can catapult a virtual nobody to one of the biggest pop stars in the world in such a short period of time. Thanks to this revolutionary form of new new media, tons of artists, actors, comedians, and anyone else looking to "broadcast" their talents are being discovered. This kind of platform not only provides entertainment for public viewing audiences that can watch these videos, but also acts a means to level the playing field for the average person looking to make it big. As proven through the case of Justin Bieber, one no longer needs to attend the best, most expensive performing schools or have connections to bigwig executives to get noticed. All it takes is the courage to put yourself out in the public eye, a hint of individuality and creativity, and a little bit of luck (actual talent doesn't hurt either) to become famous.